Still Mental In The Morning
by Browneyedbagel
Summary: Elsie and Quinn are both at Bromwell working for the campus radio station, and the day is less than typical. This is my responce to a challenge from SacredDust.


Characters from Daria are the property of their respective owners; no monetary gain is made here.

* * *

"Eeee-yewwwww!"

Quinn's protest was built of half shock and half hysterical laughing. Elsie was better composed. This was mostly due to the mouthful of coffee she fought to keep off of the table; a moment of composure which ended when the other person in the room spoke.

"Hand of god! That's how I ended up with the name 'Spatula Man'!"

At this point Elsie made a decision based on reflex to empty the contents of her mouth on the heavier man and joined Quinn in laughing. Quinn eventually regained herself enough to say something that consisted of more than two syllables.

"I always figured that the station manager or writers or whatever came up with it!"

Elsie pulled herself together and elected to not have anymore of her coffee anytime soon. Normally she wouldn't have lost herself that easily but it was almost four in the morning and in the end those moments did sign the paychecks. She cast a slight glance at Quinn with some concern. She had just recently come back to her job at the campus station following a four vehicle accident with only a few scratches.

Plus there was the detail that Quinn was unconscious for just over a month. Elsie was in a way jealous her drive to get back into things. Her own academic situation was starting to slip and Quinn had seemingly effortlessly gotten back into the swing of things. She zoned out the mindless chatter that ensued and snuck another look at Quinn. She wasn't just lacking serious injuries; she was a lot more energetic. Elsie took a moment to gauge the nature of the conversation before having another attempt of drinking. She shoved the thoughts about Quinn's very close brush with death aside and jumped back into things. That idea ground to a halt as Quinn switched their equipment from their discussion in favor of some metal music.

Not that she was complaining. In all honesty she wasn't listening enough to contribute much to the conversation. Quinn seemed to regain herself completely and helped herself to a muffin. Their male counterpart excused himself from the room, most likely with intent to do something about the caffeine nectar that ended up on his face. It came into her head how bad that would have been if the coffee wasn't at room temperature. She leaned back in her chair and fought to ignore the dull pain in her left arm. She refused to even look at it. Here she was about to complain for sleeping on it wrong and in front of her was a paragon of fortitude. She wondered what happened to the Quinn that she used to over hear her bother and Daria talk about. That self centered brat whose only concern was making sure her shoes matched her hair's mood at some point got snatched by unseen forces and returned as someone whose world extended beyond her mirror.

Elsie stretched and yawned. Quinn silently ate. She glanced at the muffin and grimaced. Quinn had recently started going through a healthy living phase. Her brain's answer to a sugar free cranberry muffin was akin to the phrase 'Hell no'. The clock on the wall read four thirteen. The solitude was broken abruptly Quinn looked right at her and spoke.

"All right… Daria and Tom are getting kinda serious. We're going to talk about it eventually."

"I'm stuck on how you came out a car wreck with just a few bruises."

Quinn said nothing and lost interest in the muffin. Silence returned to the room until Elsie sighed.

"Sorry…I guess I wouldn't want to talk about it either. Yeah we should probably get to know each other beyond the co-worker relationship."

Elsie had some more coffee before continuing.

"Probably not a bad idea with your sister and my brother back together and"

Elsie was cut off by a genuinely confused Quinn.

"Elsie…Daria's my cousin."

Elsie blinked. Quinn went on in a polite tone.

"Sure I get where everyone got the idea that we're sisters. We lived in the same house and were raised by the same people but I never once introduced her as my sister. Actually I never really introduced her to anyone…I was too busy trying to be popular and Daria wasn't much of a social person and I was just too focused on my image to do much with her. We never really remotely close to anything like sisterhood until before she went to RAFT…"

Quinn seemed to lose herself in thought and Elsie found herself equally lost. Quinn perked back up and went on.

"Anyway how about after we're done we grab some actual breakfast? Daria swears by this place she found right after transferring to Bromwell and I've never gone yet but she says the food is really good and supposed to be organic and stuff."

Elsie started to wrap her head around what Quinn had just said earlier. Clearly Quinn didn't come out of the totaled car wedged between the SUV and city bus as unscathed as everyone assumed. The former 'Spatula Man' came back into the room and Quinn dropped the topic in favor of another muffin bite. He helped himself to his own coffee cup. He switched the electronics back from the set playlist and spoke in his usual showmanship tone.

"Next time I get to spit on you."

Elsie put on a cheery façade long enough for a single witty remark.

"That's a relief. Usually guys try to talk me into swallowing."

"Eeee-yewwwww! What is wrong with you two? Wasn't that story with the Rodeo Clown torture enough?"

"Good God Elsie! Kids might be listening!"

Elsie zoned out the ensuing mayhem. They were too busy tossing the implications around to notice her lack of participation for the remainder of the morning show. She had some more of her still steadily cooling coffee. Just another hour of mindless rambling about nothing and she was free. She elected to take a rain check on breakfast with the Morgendorffer sisters, or cousins according to Quinn. With her grades falling and her getting damn sick of her job, the last thing she wanted to do was be part of whatever the hell the breakfast get together was going to bring.

On the other hand, there was no way she was going to get any studying done with her arm tweaked as it was. She didn't notice the equipment switched to more music at first. Elsie elected to sit there and try to sort her thoughts out as the others started to leave. She finally stood up and caught up with Quinn.

"So…breakfast with your…cousin?"

Quinn just smiled and gave a rather chirpy response.

"April Fools Elsie."

The gears in Elsie's head ground to a halt. She took some time to soak it in and after a short time her wit recovered.

"It's May."

"...Damnit!"

"Breakfast still happening?"

"Yes."

"How did that guy lose his job in Lawndale and end up here again?"

"If the story's anything like how he got his old character name, then I don't want to know."

* * *

These were SacredDust's requirements:  
*It must feature Quinn, Elsie, and the Spatula Man as the main characters.  
*One of them must have amnesia.  
*It must take place somewhere on the campus of Bromwell University.  
*It must begin with Quinn saying "eeee-yewwwww!"  
*It has to be at least 1,000 words.

I may lose some points for the amnesia not being genuine but it was worth it.


End file.
